richard_dawkins_-_the_god_delusion

254 C H F. G O I) D K I. U S I O N
LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR
John Hartung's black humour is evident from the outset," where he
tells of a Southern Baptist initiative to count the number of
Alabamans in hell. As reported in the New York Times and
Newsday the final total, 1.86 million, was estimated using a secret
weighting formula whereby Methodists are more likely to be saved
than Roman Catholics, while 'virtually everyone not belonging to a
church congregation was counted among the lost'. The preternatural
smugness of such people is reflected today in the various
'rapture' websites, where the author always takes it completely for
granted that he will be among those who 'disappear' into heaven
when the 'end times' come. Here is a typical example, from the
author of 'Rapture Ready', one of the more odiously sanctimonious
specimens of the genre: 'If the rapture should take place, resulting
in my absence, it will become necessary for tribulation saints to
mirror or financially support this site.'*
Hartung's interpretation of the Bible suggests that it offers no
grounds for such smug complacency among Christians. Jesus
limited his in-group of the saved strictly to Jews, in which respect
he was following the Old Testament tradition, which was all he
knew. Hartung clearly shows that 'Thou shalt not kill' was never
intended to mean what we now think it means. It meant, very
specifically, thou shalt not kill Jews. And all those commandments
that make reference to 'thy neighbour' are equally exclusive.
'Neighbour' means fellow Jew. Moses Maimonides, the highly
respected twelfth-century rabbi and physician, expounds the full
meaning of 'Thou shalt not kill' as follows: 'If one slays a single
Israelite, he transgresses a negative commandment, for Scripture
says, Thou shalt not murder. If one murders wilfully in the presence
of witnesses, he is put to death by the sword. Needless to say, one
is not put to death if he kills a heathen.' Needless to say!
Hartung quotes the Sanhedrin (the Jewish Supreme Court,
headed by the high priest) in similar vein, as exonerating a man
who hypothetically killed an Israelite by mistake, while intending to
kill an animal or a heathen. This teasing little moral conundrum
raises a nice point. What if he were to throw a stone into a group
* You may not know the meaning of 'tribulation saints' in this sentence. Don't
bother: you have better things to do.